Hand covering



Jan. 25, 1949. Q WOODBURY 2,459,985

- HAND COVERING Filed July 16, 1946 Patented Jan. 25, 1949 Hum): COVERING.

. Charles. Hugnwhodbury andGaius. l'll'aliiusv Brooks, Iios'Angeles, Calif;

"Application July? is, 1946; Serial No. 683,922 g, 3; Claims. (0112-461)- Tlhis invention has to: do with. a hand; covering in. the general nature. of; aworlr glove; it. being; a general object-oi theinvention to provide a-. glove or mitten tobe used, by a. worker and which. is useful,- generally, to gain a. secure;v effective, grip on objects or articles being: handled; without marring or in.- juring them.

There-are. numerousobjects or. articles; that are handled by hand or: by because. of the; nature of packaging; or of the things themselves do not; permit the use of mechanical grappling. devices: such as hooks: For example, fabric sacks: are commonly used. for grain. seeds, potatoes, products These-sacks vary: asztoi-qualitys or; tear:- ture, depending upon the: products handled. Further; fabric wrappings;v usually: burlap: or the like, are employedfor' carpeting: and. various. like items of commerce whichlarei commcnly wrapped or baled- There are: other. products such as cement, chemicals plastersgiertilizersgetc. which for various reasons: are: commonly handled" in papercontainers or sacks; 'I'here isalsoaalarge amount of. material: handledii'm cartons: of. various sizes: and. shapesann formed or. various grades: of paper-or cardboard; 7

The handling or; fabricsacks,- paper sacks, cartons: and? the like is: generally: diffi'cult and laborious since grapples or hooks cannot-he used and, rather, it is necessary 'forthe workmanto engage such objects a most advantageous manner mechanicallyonto-exercise unusual grippingaction through the use of'the" fingers. In many instances so-cal-led burnsoriother injuries are suiiered by workmen andthere is enerally a lossexperienced in the'handling of goods in suchpackaging due t'obreakage when the packages are dropped;

.Another similar situation exists in the caseof men working on poles'such as telephone orpowe'r linep'oles or in handling heavy or-rough material such& as lumber, etc. In such cases-mechanical grapples are generally not suitable because of electrical hazards or to the materialshandled.

Gloves are: oiterr'employeul by: workmen handling objectsor articlessucn as we. have: referred to, such gloves :being: of thetype commonly-known asworkingsglovesl Inzmanyinstancessuclrgloves protect the hands, butLdo not. facilitate the gripping of objects but: rather-merely interfere thera with.. We are aware that gloves:- intended for certain classesl of: work that: we n-ave; indicated have been madeat various mate'r ialst For eat"- to; enable the worker or user workmen and which noun. cofiee and like because they are 'i'njurlcus ample, gloves have been made from or with rubber. However,. it is immediately apparent that such materialis not particularly effective-for gripping: objects such as we have mentioned, but rather is. actually slippery under certain conditions, asfor instanceiwhen' moisture ispresent or when dust or'powd'ered materials are present.

, Further, gloves have been proposed: and are sometimes made. with metal: parts; usually in the nature of reinforcements, which project. in a manner to' bite" into objects that are gripped, but in general such; structures closely simulate mechanical grapples or hook devices and are generally unsatisfactory, particularly for ham dlingt objectsv or articles subject to. being torn or mutilated.

It is in a general object-of the present invention to: provide. a glove having a gripping face occupied'by a multitude offine yet sharp gripping particles: which are such as to establish amechanical grip or mesli f'or material's-such as fabric or the like-without so-pierclng or biting intosuch mater-i'als -asto' injure, mutilate, or deform them inany manner;

It is a general object of the present invention to provide-aglovehaving its work engagingfaces occupied by small or fine gripping particles which are of such shape-or character as togrip*rather than slide when in contact with articles such as areindicated above: Thepartlcles that we have provided act without cutting or abrad-ing, but rather serve-tolneshwith the surface engaged so thatnomovement-occurs likely to cause abrasion or cutting.

It is another object of the invention'to provide a glove of the general character referred to in which the glove proper is formed of a suitable material such as fabric or leather and is itself sufficiently strong to withstand the use intended, while gripping particles occupy the surfacesithat engageobjects or articles as the gloveis used and formasurfacing which is fiexible-orconformable to the obj eets orarticle's engaged.

Thevaricus objects and features of our invention will be fully understood from. the" following detailed description of typical preferred forms and applications of' the invention, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a face or palm view of a typical work glove embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailed" sectional view of the construction that we provide, being a view taken substantially as'indica'tedby-line E -{Zon Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is-a View similar tc'Flg. 2 showing another and an area that extends over form of construction that may be employed.

type of glove and since the invention is intended. primarily for use by workmen we apply it to a' work type glove and have, in the drawings,'illustrated a typical form of such glove. The glove shown in the drawings involves, generally,.a body of usual form characterized by a palm portion term the working surfaces or parts so as to completely cover or occupy such surfaces. In accord ance with our invention the particles l5 are formed of hard, durable, crush wear resisting material such, for example, as emery or the material commonly known as Carborundum. Materials that we may use may be hard and are preferably sharp materials of the silicon carbide, alumlnumpxide or garnetftypes.

It is to be understood'that We contemplate suitable variation in the material or combination of materials employed in the particles as working conditions indicate. The particles, in addition to it. A plurality of fingers ll project" from thebody as does the usual thumb l2. A wrist sleeve I 4 projects from the body portion and we'provide this sleeve with a fastening means 16.

'It' is to be understood; of course, that the body with the palmportion I0 and the fingers and thumb are shaped, related and'p'roportion'ed'to properly accommodate the hand of the user. In the particular glove illustrated the thumb is joined to the body portion by a seam I3 and the wrist sleeve I4 is similarly joined to the body portion and projects from-the body portion to extend over the wrist or forearm in thedesired manner.

It is to be understood that we may, in carrying out our invention form the glove of any suitable material or materials and in practice the particular material used in any specific case may be governed largely by the circumstances or the conditions under which the glove is to be used. Sincework gloves are commonly formed of leather or fabric or combinations of these materials we will, for example, point out that our glove can be formed of either one or bothof these materials. We contemplate forming the glove of such materials and so connecting the various parts that the glove in and of itself is sufficiently strong and durable to stand up'under the use intended, and it isnot our intention that the gripping particles that -We apply to the glove parts should be relied upon as structural elements of the glove necessaryfor adequate strength or durability,

although they may add to or supplement the strength and durability of the glove.

The gripping particles that we employ are applied to the work engaging or article engaging portions of the glove to occupy such parts of the glove, preferably to completely cover them. It

vary wide y, depending upon various factors, such as the materials used as theparticles, their mode .of application to the glove or the working condi-.-

tions to be'served by the glove. In the drawings we have illustrated a typical arrangement or application of particles and it will be noted that we there show a plurality of areas of the glove occupied by gripping particles. For instance, we show an area on the inner side of the-thumb l2 the palm portion i6 and extends out alongthe inner sides of the several fingers H.' It will be apparent from this disclosure that these occupied areas of the glove may be varied in number, size, shape and arrangement as circumstances require.

The gripping particles that we provide are designated in the drawings as l5 andthey are preferably applied to the parts-ofthe glove such as we have just referred to'and which we will being hard and wear resisting are preferably irregular in form or shape and in most instances we prefer to employ particles that are sharp edged. Furthermore, we prefer to employ particles that are considerably coarser than those ordinarily employed in sandpapers or like abrasives. For instance, we employ particles that are about the size of very coarse sand or of very fine gravel. In" employing sharp edged irregular particles l 5 we prefer to apply them to the-working surfaces of the glove so that flat or base portionsof the particles are in while pointed or sharp parts "are out, which arrangement of particles we have indicated in a. generalway in the drawings. i

The manner of applying the particles to the working-surfaces 0f the glove may vary widely. In the drawings we showtwo typical applications or manners of applying the particles. In Fig. 2 we show the working part of the glove as formed of fabric F and we show the particlesl5 secured or bonded thereto by a suitable adhesive 20. YWe prefer to employ an adhesive which has some life .or flexibility so that the Working surfaces of the glove are not rendered stiff by the application of the adhesive thereto andin most instances we prefer to employ an adhesive that is water-proof. It will beunderstood that the desired adhesive can be applied tothe working surfacesof the glove in any suitable convenient manner and that the particles l5 can beapplied to or arranged overthe layer or film of adhesive in any suitable manner to' gain the desired gripping surface. In practice we anticipate that we may,,for example,

usemethods of application such as are extensively employed commercially in applying materials known as Threemite;

In the form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, we apply the-particleslS to the fabric F, of the glove through an intervening fabric 2|. 'In this case the'partlcles l5 are applied or bonded to the'fabricll as .bya suitable adhesive 22 and the fabricZl, in turn, is bonded to the fabric F by a suitable'adhesive 23. In this case, as in the firstdescribed, the adhesives employed are preferably such as to give the structure reasonable flexibility and in most instances, it is preferred that they be waterproof. For example, We may, in practice, employ adhesives such as jare'known'as animal, mineral or, natural adhesives, or we'may usecombinations of different shown. the particlesengaginga' fab "c as such example serves best toillustrate the mechanical (gripping, action; that we obtain, it being ;understood that ithiszsamesenerai .action is obtained to a degree even when the particles are engaged with relatively smooth surface material such as paper, for in such cases the surface is not altogether smooth and is soft enough to allow limited penetration of the particles sufficient to establish the desired mesh or gripping engagement.

The fastening means H5 provided in connection with the wrist sleeve serves to effectively hold the glove on the hand and it is important since there is a marked tendency for the glove to pull from the hand due to the gripping action that we have provided. We have shown a strap and buckle construction involving straps i! and 13 joined to circumferentially spaced parts of the sleeve and releasably and adjustably connected together by a suitable buckle 19.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that we have, by our present invention, provided a glove with working surfaces occupied by gripping particles which are of such nature as to establish a meshing engagement with articles contacted by the user, and it will be ap parent that as the glove is used slippage is minimized if not completely reduced and yet the articles handled are not in any way injured, mutilated, or torn. By reason of the effective gripping engagement gained through the struc ture that we have provided the user can handle articles with relative ease and security and it is unnecessary to apply great force through the fingers or to manipulate the articles to gain special gripping engagement therewith such as is necessary with the bare hands or with ordinary gloves.

Having described only typical preferred forms and applications of our invention, we do not wish to be limited or restricted to the specific details herein set forth, but wish to reserve to ourselves any variations or modifications that may appear to those skilled in the art and fall within the scope of the following claims:

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A glove of the character described having a palm, a thumb and finger parts with work engaging faces, a continuous surfacing on said faces of the palm and finger parts, a separate surface on the thumb part, each surfacing including an outer layer of coarse sharp gripping particles and an adhesive bonding said particles directly to said faces.

2. A glove of the character described having parts with work engaging faces, and a surfacing ric when applied thereto in the course of use of the glove, a wrist sleeve, and a strap and buckle device carried by the sleeve operable to make the sleeve tight around the wrist of the user.

CHARLES HUGH WOODBURY. GAIUS FABIUS BROOKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 4,005 Goodyear Apr. 22, 1845 203,959 Townsend May 21, 1878 1,346,683 Reynolds July 13, 1920 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 485,301 Great Britain May 18, 1938 

